This week on Wellbeing we are talking with LA-based author Terri Cheney about her journey with bipolar. We have covered bipolar disorder from an academic perspective for the last month but now we begin talking with those with the condition. This is the fifth instalment in our bipolar series. Before becoming a writer, Terri Cheney was a successful entertainment lawyer representing the likes of Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones. However, she hid a big secret that she had been going through since childhood. Her Bipolar.  She stopped being an entertainment lawyer in 1999 to become a writer with her first bipolar memoir book coming out in 2008 called “Manic: A Memoir” which quickly became a New York Times Best Seller. She has written two other books on her bipolar story one focusing on her childhood “The Dark Side of Innocence: Growing Up Bipolar” in 2012 and her most recent publication “Modern Madness: An Owner's Manual” came out in 2020. Terri has been stable with her bipolar one disorder for years and is here today to share a bit about her journey and work as an author writing about the condition. 

In this episode Terri talks about her bipolar growing up, how her parents approached her undiagnosed bipolar when she was young, how depressive episodes feel and impact daily life, stories from her life in how mania impacted her, how her bipolar impacted her during her time as an entertainment lawyer, the experiencing of mania and depression at the same time, the writing process of some of her writing, and where she is at today in her bipolar journey. 

"When I practising law and I was at a big firm, I was quite successful, I would literally hide under my desk during my depressions, I wouldn't let anybody see me, I'd do a lot of work from home which wasn't really done in those days - that was pretty unusual. But I think there is something about me having been in the entertainment industry that made it easier to have eccentric behaviour" - Terri Cheney on this episode of Wellbeing

Tune in next week when we talk with Natasha Tracy about her bipolar journey 

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Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins
Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing